by anyone who has a mind to investigate the subject.[1]

[Footnote 1: For a fuller account of the Book of Mormon, see the
author's "Articles of Faith," Lectures 14 and 15; published at
Salt Lake City, Utah, 1913.]



CHAPTER II

But we have anticipated the current of events. With the
publication of the Book of Mormon, opposition grew more intense
toward the people who professed a belief in the testimony of
Joseph Smith. On the 6th of April, 1830, the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints was formally organized and thus took
on a legal existence. The scene of this organization was
Fayette, New York, and but six persons were directly concerned as
participants. At that time there may have been and probably were
many times that number who had professed adherence to the newly
restored faith; but as the requirements of the law governing the
formation of religious societies were satisfied by the
application of six, only the specified number formally took part.
Such was the beginning of the Church, soon to be so universally
maligned. Its origin was small--a germ, an insignificant seed,
hardly to be thought of as likely to arouse opposition. What was
there to fear in the voluntary association of six men, avowedly
devoted to peaceful pursuits and benevolent purposes? Yet a
storm of persecution was threatened from the earliest day. At
first but a family affair, opposition to the work has involved
successively the town, the county, the state, the country, and